“Keep low, and try not to rustle the brush too much,” Blue Book muttered as he sneaked through the bushes. The blue unicorn with black mane and tail and a simple cutie mark of a book with a blue cover peeked out occasionally before moving on.

Behind him, Verdant Moss gave a sigh as he followed his friend, albeit at a much less covert pace. “Why are we out here again?” he asked, scratching at his dark green beard. A cutie mark of a leaf under a magnifying glass adorned his flank.

“Lot of travelers have been coming out of these woods disoriented, and with no memory of what happened to them,” Blue explained. “It must be some sort of cryptid, stalking these woods. It could be dangerous if it gets to town.”

“And why am I out here?” Verdant asked, peering around. He was a little more apprehensive now.

“You said you’ve been meaning to study the local plant life, didn’t you?” Blue glanced back at him.

“Kind of hard to do that while I’m off on a wild goose chase,” Verdant sighed. “You sure these travelers haven’t just been hitting the cider too hard?”

“Not cider season,” Blue refuted. “Besides, they weren’t hungover. It look like they were… drained somehow. They didn’t seem to be injured, save some scrapes and bruises, but they certainly weren’t alright.”

“Well if this thing doesn’t kill, then what’s the problem?”

“It hasn’t killed yet. And we still don’t know what we’re dealing with. It could grow more danger—down!”

Blue forced his friend down into the bushes as the sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs approached them. The two ponies held their breath as a large, brown bear snorted and sniffed its way past their hiding place.

Verdant and Blue watched as it continued on deeper into the forest, seemingly not picking up on the two hiding in the bush.

“It’s a grizzly,” Verdant hissed. “We need to get out of here.”

As he made a move to flee in the opposite direction, Blue grabbed his shoulder. He had a serious frown pointed in the direction the bear had gone.

“C’mon, Blue!” Verdant hissed. “Your cryptid hunt can wait!”

“Verdant, we don’t have grizzlies around here,” Blue said, turning to him. “The most we get is black bears.”

“Well maybe it just moved in—those things are dangerous! We can’t just go poking around after one,” Verdant protested.

“Then we’d better keep low and sneaky then,” Blue replied, creeping from the bush and following the bear’s trail deeper into the woods.

“Blue!” Verdant called after him. Biting his lower lip and looking around, he finally hurried after his friend.

He caught up to Blue Book and the two made their way through thicker and thicker underbrush. A definite, wide trail had been made through it, allowing them an easy trail to follow. Soon, the canopy started to blot out the light of the midday sun.

Blue halted their progress on the edge of a glade deep in the woods, where a makeshift campsite seemed to have been made. A few hollow logs had been moved around a stone fire pit full of burnt twigs.

The bear approached the firepit and glanced around, glaring this way and that.

And then it erupted in a burst of green flame.

Blue and Verdant had to cover each other’s mouths at the sight. Replacing the bear was a tall, lithe figure with a membrane like mane and tail and dark chitin. A jagged horn protruded from her forehead, and a pair of thin wings buzzed on her back.

Verdant jerked his head back the way they came and Blue agreed. Together, they crept back the way they had come, doing their best not to raise too much noise.

“Queen Chrysalis! Here?!” Verdant snapped once they were sure they were out of earshot.

“Right, we definitely need to tell someone now,” Blue said, nodding. “And that can most definitely get more dangerous.”

Author's Note

Blue Book: Male, Earth Pony

About: Always on the lookout for mysteries and odd occurrences, Blue Book usually finds trouble more often than not. Still, he's great at tracking down the weird of the world.

Appearances: None so far.

Fun fact 1: Blue Book and Ghost Pepper are my oldest pony OCs!

Fun fact 2: In his original intended appearance that never became a story, Blue Book was meant to be the love interest to Queen Chrysalis--and probably my first attempt at reforming her.